The dogtrack was barking up the wrong tree. They should have gone for slots at the track.
http://www.kenoshanews.com/opinion/hard_rock_improves_the_case_for_casino_473830245.html
[h=3]Hard Rock improves the case for casino[/h][h=4]Well known brand makes Menominee project a better tourism draw[/h]Published 1 hour 22 minutes agoThe Menominee Tribe and Hard Rock International, which is owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, announced last week that Hard Rock would help develop the proposed casino at the long-closed Dairyland Greyhound Park in Kenosha.
Local officials immediately described the new partnership as “a game changer.”
And it looks like they are correct, since the governor, who must decide to accept or reject the Kenosha casino, has decided to become personally involved in talks among the state’s 11 tribes. He had previously left efforts to reach the tribal consensus he seeks to the Menominees.
From the time the governor announced that his criteria for approving the casino included tribal consensus — by which he meant unanimous consent — this newspaper has argued that the condition is unreasonable and probably impossible to achieve. It is not reasonable to expect tribes that operate casinos to welcome a new competitor into the market. It is also not reasonable to expect unanimous consent among groups that have different, in some cases opposite, interests.
A similar request for consensus among existing businesses before a competitor could enter the market would be considered ridiculous. Even though the casino market is heavily regulated, giving casinos veto power over future competitors is unfair.
Unless something happens to change the equation, tribal consensus will be impossible because two tribes have already stated their opposition. The Potawatomi Tribe, which operates a casino in Milwaukee, even rejected the Menominee’s offer of a partnership. A spokesman for the Ho-Chunk Nation, which operates a casino in Wisconsin Dells, said, “No amount of discussion will change our position on this project.”
Nevertheless, the governor wants to enter the discussion. That should be a good sign for the future of the Kenosha project, which, if approved is likely to be good for Wisconsin tourism.
Kenosha is a good location for a casino given its proximity to the Illinois border. A casino here is more likely to draw customers from Illinois than a casino in Milwaukee and would no doubt siphon off customers who are now driving to Milwaukee.
With Hard Rock as a partner, the Kenosha casino’s potential appeal to tourists is much greater. Now it’s not a generic tribal casino; it’s a widely known entertainment brand name. It ought to be much harder for the governor to reject.
Kenosha has been fortunate recently with several announcements of new business projects, including online retailer Amazon, and those projects lend credence to the possibility of the former Dairyland Greyhound Park being developed for some other use besides a casino. But no other use is likely to be bigger than an $800 million casino, hotel and entertainment complex. The Amazon development, which is huge and is expected to provide more than 1,000 jobs, is about one-fourth the value of the proposed casino development.
We are not oblivious to the social costs of gambling. They are real, and they will be increased by the proximity of a casino. However, many of those social costs are already here — from other casinos, online gambling, the lottery and illegal but tolerated video gambling machines in restaurants and taverns — but we don’t have the jobs a casino would provide. The jobs — estimated at more than 3,000 — outweigh the potential for increased social costs.
Eventually there is likely to be another casino between Milwaukee and the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin, Ill., or the Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, Ill. It could be in Kenosha or it could be on the other side of the state line in Lake County, Ill. Wherever it goes, Milwaukee’s casino will be affected by the competition.
The governor is in a position to choose whether that casino is in Kenosha and draws people over the state line to Wisconsin or is in Illinois and draws customers out of Wisconsin.
The better prospect for Wisconsin, especially with the addition of a Hard Rock Cafe, is for the casino and all the jobs that come with it to be in Kenosha.
